Councillor Terry Kelly

The view from Left field, politics, entertainment, argument and insight into my world. For Socialism, peace and justice, against racism, sexism, sectarianism, nationalism and discrimination. Avanti Poplo!

Saturday, March 28, 2015

The highlight of my week
was the failure of the squalid Tory plot to get rid of The House of Commons
Speaker John Bercow.This
‘Speaker’ is a man who has been on a long journey from rabid right wing hidebound
Tory of the Tebbit/Thatcher school to the embodiment of what was once commonly
referred to as ‘One Nation Tories’. People like Ian McLeod, Harold MacMIllan
and RAB Butler all from before the brutal ‘nasty party’ of the Thatcher era and
the privileged braying donkeys we know today as the wretched chinless Bullingdon
Boys, most of whom need to use both hands to find their own a***s but, they are
well bred and rich and born to be leaders.

The fact that this last day of this parliament
coincided with the last day of one of the most unpleasant: most arrogant Tory
MP’S of my political life was a bonus and the fact that that revolting malevolent
character was the would be assassin of the speaker made the enjoyment more
satisfying, I refer of course to William Haque about whom it was often said “what,
that slimy b*****d”. No one better embodied ‘the nasty party than Hague, he is rumoured
to have a perfectly constructed glass eye, only detectable by looking closely
and noting that one of his eyes shows humanity and compassion, that is the
glass one, The House of Commons seems a fresher place already.

The post of
speaker is a strange one it has the effect of making the most partisan of
politicians act fairly before a watching world. This was regarded as a minus
for a Tory Speaker by his party and so it was with Bercow, he was detested by
many Tories because he refused to show his own party favour and liked by all
others for that very quality. Bercow is more of a Disraeli Tory, while Hague,
Cameron, Osborne etc. are more in the camp of Thatcher and Churchill, for those
who are not political anoraks like me that is a compliment to Bercow, A Tory
Speaker of the house, I never thought I would ever say something like that but
there you are I’ve said it.

Saturday, March 21, 2015

I WILL not be giving Mr Murdoch his
£12.99 in order to share in the musings of Alex Salmond. Sufficient to rely on
the extracts which can be obtained for nothing and all seem to be of the
scapegoating variety. Always someone else’s fault. Whose
fault is it, I wonder, that Mr Salmond is now confirmed as having attempted the
biggest deception in modern political history by arguing a case for Scottish
independence that was based on entirely bogus claims about future North Sea oil
revenues? Fortunately, he failed.

The UK government will receive
less than £1 billion a year in oil revenues for at least the next five years.
This compares to the Scottish Government’s insistence that the revenues in
2016-17 alone would amount to between £6.8 – 7.9 billion. The Office for Budget
Responsibility now estimates £600 million for that year – surely a
record-breaking miscalculation by the Scottish Government of over 90 per cent. Nicola
Sturgeon blithely states that “everyone’s projections about oil were wrong” as
if that magically exonerates the deception to which she was a leading
subscriber. But, anyway, her memory is highly selective. The scale of the fall
may be even greater than anticipated but it was the downward trend which the
Nationalists stood alone in denying and were prepared to denigrate anyone who
dared contradict them. Incidentally, I see that Ms Sturgeon’s word of the week
is “gleeful”. Anyone who points out the dishonesty of what she and her
colleagues told the Scottish people, or the calamitous implications if they had
succeeded, is not doing so because lies should be punished and realities
exposed. They are doing so because they are “gleeful”, whatever that may mean
in the language of the Holyrood kindergarten.

As far back as March 2013, the
Office of Budget Responsibility was forecasting a drop in the oil price to
“below $100 a barrel in future years”. Salmond dismissed this as “stuff and
nonsense” and accused the civil servants responsible of “political
manipulation”. That set the tone for two years of abusing the integrity and
motives of anyone who dared contradict him. And what about the debased Scottish
civil service? The White Paper insisted that a “cautious” figure to base
Scotland’s economic future on was $113 a barrel. As Dr Azeem Ibrahim wrote in a
paper for The Scotland Institute: “If any of my PhD students had produced an
economic argument this poor, I would have failed them immediately”. But
someone, still hiding in St Andrew’s House, did write it, probably under duress.
Will Salmond’s book shed light on that murky process?

I accept that
there are many in Scotland who do not give a toss about the lies, deceptions or
dire economic and social consequences that would have followed, even by now, if
the Nationalists had succeeded. For them, as for Salmond, the end justifies the
means and if the means involve the flagrant fabrication of numbers to make the
case stack up, then so be it. But when history takes a
calmer look at last year’s referendum, it is important that the narrative is
not written by the loser, for it is he who should be called to account. The
parable of the oil revenues should not be forgotten. Neither should the abuse
hurled at dissenting voices. The SNP’s projections for Scotland’s jobs, schools
and hospitals were based on an oil price of $113 a barrel. That is inescapable.

If Salmond and Sturgeon had
prevailed, Scotland would be facing austerity on a scale unimaginable to anyone
other than, perhaps, the Greeks. Jobs would be flowing out of Scotland in their
tens of thousands as the implications of the folly became apparent. The young
would be leaving on the same scale they fled Ireland after the banking crash
from which we in Scotland were protected. And it would be too late to do
anything about it.

As Dr Ibrahim wrote in his paper: “With an
annual borrowing requirement of £20 billion-plus, there would have been simply
no way to get finance on the international markets at sensible rates. Throw in
the uncertainty over the currency and EU membership and it would have been
financial Armageddon”. That is the bullet we dodged and no re-writing of
history should portray it as anything other than an extremely sensible
decision.

Yet this is
more than a lesson for the benefit of history. The “full fiscal autonomy” which
Salmond and Sturgeon now demand would exchange the Barnett Formula for North
Sea oil revenues. That is the platform on which they say they will contest the
General Election – not because even they could conceivably want that outcome in
current circumstances, but as the subsequent excuse for more posturing and
blame-shifting to absolutely no useful effect.

If almost half of Scotland
wants that kind of politics, then it is what they will get. Unfortunately, the
rest of us will have to suffer it too, but that’s democracy. I have no doubt
the outcome the SNP are desperate to facilitate is the return of another Tory
government which they can then portray as pantomime villains for whom Scotland
did not vote. And so it goes on – all about process and manoeuvring without an
inch of progress in terms of equality, fairness and social justice.There was
not much to cheer or boo about in this week’s budget. In fact, it contained a
few good things and, as Labour have rightly said, nothing worth reversing. But
a pre-election budget is not a reflection of the past five years or the next
five years. The General Election offers a broad choice in the kind of society
we want to live in. If Scotland helps to facilitate the return of the Tories as
a price worth paying for giving Labour a kicking, then it must do so with its
collective eyes open.

If it achieves that outcome by
supporting the same people who assured them six months ago that their jobs, NHS
and children’s future would be secure on the basis of an oil price of $113 a
barrel, then we really are in a strange place. Yesterday, the price stood at
$55. BRIAN WILSON.

Tuesday, March 17, 2015

An
increasingly significant way to protest against Israeli crimes against the
Palestinians is to boycott Israel. Do not purchase Israeli merchandise,
do not invest in anything they do, do not buy anything from any company which
deals with Israel, cut off all communications with them, do not visit there,
speak out against them at all times. One of the most productive means of
protesting against Israel is a cultural/artistic boycott, this hits hard
because, despite their terrible crimes, their bigotry and their genocide
against Palestinians they like to depict themselves as the most sophisticated urbane
people in the Middle East and the arts are very important to them if they want
to try to maintain that facade. They would have us listen to their great
orchestras and hope that the music will mask the cries of suffering Palestinian
children; they would have us take pleasure in Israeli theatre and hope we can
ignore the misery and pain of the rightful owners of the land, the Palestinians
on the streets outside.

I urge everyone to support that arts boycott of Israel until the
occupation of Palestine and the suffering and agony of its people are brought
to an end, please contact http://artistsforpalestine.org.uk/
to learn more about the principled and ethical stand being taken against Israel by many brave
and generous members of the artistic community all over the world.

Monday, March 09, 2015

TRADE unionists’ hopes were dashed yesterday as the SNP
ignored calls to enforce a living wage for tens of thousands working on public-sector
contracts.Campaigners watched with bated breath as MSPs debated the Scottish
government’s procurement Bill for a third and final time.

A Labour amendment had called on SNP ministers to require
all firms awarded a public-sector contract to pay their staff the semi-official
living wage, set at £7.65 an hour in Scotland.Holyrood has pledged the living
wage for all those directly employed by a public body but ministers have
refused to enforce it on public contracts, citing fear of EU competition rules.

Instead the government would require procurement panels only
to consider contractors’ rates of pay as one of several factors. Labour MSP
James Kelly told MSPs the measure “would make a massive difference” to
underpaid care workers, cleaners and others.

But the Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon would not
budge, saying the European Commission had advised ministers it would be
“unlikely” that the policy would escape legal challenge from would-be
contractors.

Green Party MSP Patrick Harvie retorted that ministers had
already taken on an expected legal challenge to minimum alcohol pricing from
booze firms.

“Sometimes governments must be willing to test the
boundaries of what is possible,” he said.

Sunday, March 08, 2015

December 20 14 Nicola Sturgeon said scrapping Trident
"would be fundamental" for any agreement to prop up a government. 3 months later ---------------------------------------...March 20 15 Nicola Sturgeon said that the SNP could
comfortably vote for Labour policies without a deal on Trident.

They recently voted to become a member of NATO a Nuclear first strike organisation, effectively condoning nuclear weapons while dishonestly trying to portray themselves as the holier than thou party of opposition to WMD'S. Their position became one of being in the nuclear club but claiming to have clean hands by not having these weapons in Scotland, is there a more corrupt and morally vacuous political position anywhere today than that taken by the snp?. Would it be fair now considering these events to expect the snp to shut up about weapons of mass destruction as their policy on them is now a mendacious sham.

Are there any snp shibboleths still standing?, any red lines not erased? any deal breakers that haven't been broken?. The once proud republican party who now accept the monarchy, the party who regarded the pound sterling as a millstone round the neck of a possible independent Scotland who fought tooth and nail to cling on to it during the referendum, the party who wanted rid of the UK but wanted the UK to give them their war ships to build, to share their NHS and share the UK passport etc. and so it goes.

This is a political party that is perpetually up for sale to the highest bidder, the party who hate Labour but are desperate to form a coalition with us, the party recently exposed as accepting Tory policies to get Tory support for their budget to inflict an snp/Tory budget on the Scottish people while professing their disdain for all things Tory. Make no mistake about it, they want a Tory victory at the forthcoming general election because they think that another 5 years of right wing Tory rule will move Scotland closer to their goal of separation. Another 5 years of suffering and pain they think is worth it for their spectacularly stupid ambitions, we must not allow that to happen and there is only one way to stop it happening and that is to vote Labour, a vote for the snp is a vote for a Tory government remember that when voting day comes.

Wednesday, March 04, 2015

04/03/2015
(today). Westminster Parliament. The Labour Party votes against the Tory/Libdem
coalition government austerity plans, the SNP’S Westminster MP’S abstain. When
the SNP/Libdem coalition in Renfrewshire Council voted on a similar Labour
motion to condemn the Tory/Libdem coalition’s austerity cuts they, (the snp
libdem coalition) voted down that Labour motion and snp minister, then leader
of Renfrewshire Council Derek Mackay stated, and I quote, “the cuts are about right”.
Scottish voters think on!.

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

The truth is
breaking out all over and the snp “do not like it up em” as Corporal Jones
would say.Today in a newspaper interview ex Scottish Tory
leader Annabel Goldie releases an embarrassing critique of the snp’s mendacity
in response to their posturing about refusing to work with the tories in a hung
Westminster parliament. Here is a taste of what she had to say and it does not
make good reading for the snp shysters and habitual scam artists.

“They were quite happy to work with us when they needed to,”
Annabelle Goldie Scottish Tory leader 2007 – 2011 during the snp minority
government.

“Our position was very clear. In return for supporting their
budget, the SNP would include Conservative policies in their budget. It was as
simple as that.” Annabel Goldie. Same period of time.

Goldie said: “It reeks of posturing and it is, frankly,
indicative of hypocrisy. Because what suited him (salmond) in 2007 and 2008 and
in the ensuing years of minority government is the very thing now that he says
he’ll have no truck with.”

When you think it can’t get any worse in blunders Stewart
Hosie snp with the following

“Labour and the Tories have just spent two-and-a-half years
joined at the hip in the No campaign” Stewart Hosie snp.

And then, salmond and his successor as first minister,
Nicola Sturgeon, repeatedly accused the party of “getting into bed with the
Tories”.

If we make the practical assumption that anyone according to
salmond, sturgeon and hosie who supported the NO campaign was getting in to bed
with the tories, does that then mean that they are also saying that The British
Communist Party and their well known newspaper The Morning Star also got in to
bed with the tories?. Yes folks the Communist Party supported the NO campaign
as did many other left organisations. Can we expect to see salmond, strurgeon
or hosie accusing the Morning Star and the British Communist Party of being
closet tories?, honestly is there anything dumber or more deceitful than the
snp?. This is what you get with people who are involved with single issue
politics, like the snp and independence. They will excuse any fraud, lie or
dirty trick and justify any atrocious underhand behaviour by claiming it was
done for the ‘cause’, just like those guys who famously said ‘we were just
following orders’.

Monday, February 16, 2015

Thursday Feb
12 20 15 09.30 am The Renfrewshire annual budget meeting was convened,
as is often the case on these show piece occasions there are protests and demonstrations
from fringe groups and minor fringe political Parties. On this occasion there
were no fringe groups and the minor fringe parties were represented by Cllr.
MacLaren of the Tories, Cllr. Eileen McCartin of the Libdems and Cllr. Paul
Mack of The Paul Mack Party, all 3 parties have 1 member each, ergo all 3 are
party leaders, this is one of the delightful eccentricities of politics, indeed
2 of the three are well established eccentrics, though “lovable” does not apply
to them. The sensible 1 of the 3 being the Tory James MacLaren about whom it is
said that he was just pipped for the part of Private Godfrey by Michael Gambon in
the new version of Dad’s Army. There was also one member of The Scottish
Socialist Party who sat quietly and well behaved in the public gallery, ‘what
are things coming to I hear you ask’?. An element of tension pervaded the
opposition benches as the snp’s truly awful new leadership team of Cllrs.
Nicolson and Cameron took their places with the recently suspended ‘gang of
four’ arsonists seated behind them with their eyes watching and 'burning' in to them with
undisguised contempt. Having shown themselves as true bravehearts by torching a bin they have been betrayed and ousted, help ma boab the ill feeling was tangible ‘so it wis’ this bad feeling will ‘burn’
slowly as the gang of 4 clearly see themselves a the keepers of the
independence ‘flame’ and see the members of the coup as traitors.

The usual appeals for good behaviour were made by the chair
Provost Anne hall who reminded us all that we were being filmed. Budget day is
always predictable in that the administration’s budget will always get a
majority and today was no exception. Given that historical context it would be reasonable
to expect that the meeting would be brief but, remember this is Renfrewshire
and, sitting there in opposition across the chamber are the most disreputable
and badly behaved snp group in Scotland plus the two aforementioned “unlovable
eccentrics” McCartin and Mack who sound like a wretched end of the pier comedy
duo in a grubby seaside backwater town.

For those readers of a strong disposition this meeting can
be seen on the council’s website, throughout the meeting viewers will be aware
of a low rumbling noise in the background which they cannot explain. The
explanation for this is that the policy is only to show the head and shoulders
of the person speaking who is the only one on the microphone, this is a
precautionary measure designed to mitigate the embarrassment to Renfrewshire
Council regularly caused by some of the people mentioned above. For your
information I can advise you that when you hear the clearly exasperated Provost Hall pleading with Cllrs. Audrey Doig, Andy Doig, Lorraine Cameron and Brian
Lawson to behave and stop disrupting the meeting she is addressing snp
Councillors, the dark mysterious snp Cllr. Mags Maclaren continues to fascinate as
she diligently keeps herself hunched over her desk while continuing to heckle,
all we see is the top of her head and we hear her high pitched squeak
constantly, when she leaves her chair the heckling stops, oh well I suppose it
takes all kinds. Then we have the famously arrogant bully ‘Big Mac’ McCartin
Libdem, not to be confused with ‘Wee Mack’ independent, she who continues to
contribute to every subject from dog fouling to brain surgery, there are very
few nasty, ugly situations that the arrival of this charlatan cannot make
worse.

At the end of the meeting I was left considering 2 main
points. 1/ the cost to the tax payer of the behavior of these people which
caused the meeting to overrun by approximately 3 hours which is about £5,000
paid for by you and me folks and 2/ Audrey and Andy Doig of the snp are man and
wife and I was wondering again if this was the way they usually behave and if
so are their neighbours entitled to any recompense for having to live next door
to them?. I urge everyone once again to get along to witness this at the next
full council meeting.

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

The title I have used for this post is a quote by the great German Marxist writer Bertolt Brecht in his play "The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui" and "THE BASTARD" he refers to is Adolf Hitler. He puts it better than I ever could and the quote came back to me as I have now started to again receive squalid and evil emails from
anti Semitic Neo Nazis, all anonymous of course, they still talk tough but
prefer to cower in hiding like the scum that they are. I will repeat what I
have said before to these creeps, I remain a supporter of the Palestinian
cause, as I have for approximately 40 years but I am in no way anti Semitic and
I never have been. I remain implacably opposed to the State of Israel but I do
not accept that the Israeli state represents Jews ‘per se’, I believe in fact
that Israel is losing the enormous support and sympathy that it once enjoyed
and that includes among Jewish people.

I also remain implacably opposed to discrimination against
anyone based on race, creed or colour and I have the same respect for all, I
have no doubt that I will continue to receive this poisonous garbage from these
sick in the head fanatics but they will not change what I believe in. I urge
everyone to be vigilant and report any instances of anti Semitic abuse or discrimination to the
police, these are dangerous times and we must be vigilant and aware of past
atrocities against the Jewish people and others.

Saturday, January 31, 2015

Any hopes
that the hatred of the unions long demonstrated by the snp would dissipate
following the exit of union hater in chief alex salmond has been dealt another
blow over the living wage. The snp government in a spiteful will now deliberately punish low
earners in retaliation for the £1.5 Million donation to the general election fighting
fund to the Labour Party by the UNITE UNION. Make no mistake about it the snp
are every bit as anti trade union as their Tory friends and their fellow
nationalists in UKIP, here is the union response to the snp’s latest sell out
and betrayal of the Scottish low paid workers.

STUC Anger at Scottish
Government Delay on Living Wage Guidance January 30th 2015TheScottish
Trades Union Congress has reacted angrily at proposals by the Scottish
Government to delay the introduction of statutory Scottish Government Guidance
on the Living Wage. Grahame Smith, STUC General Secretary said

“We are deeply disappointed that the Scottish Government has failed to
deliver on its previous promise to consult on statutory guidance on promoting a
Scottish Living Wage through procurement of public sector contracts.

“The STUC were always of the view the Scottish Government
misinterpreted EU regulations and ECJ case law and was, as a consequence overly
cautious in its approach to the potential for the inclusion of Living Wage
clauses in public contracts although we were somewhat comforted by the fact
that the Scottish Government committed to a consultation on the issue, we
presumed this would be sooner rather than later.

“We accept statutory guidance is still on the table but our anger is at
the timescale proposed and it is unlikely we will see such guidance until 18
months after the Procurement Reform Act has been passed and we consider this a
serious breach of faith and are calling for a meeting with the Scottish
Government to discuss this as a matter of urgency.

“Workers on low pay need lifted out of poverty now and very few
contractors delivering goods and services to Scottish public bodies are living
wage accredited employers. All too often the reason for non-accreditation is
uncertainty over procurement rules and that progress cannot be made until
Statutory Guidance is issued.

“The Scottish Government needs to rethink this timetable urgently,
proposed non-statutory guidance will not force public bodies to address poverty
wages in companies seeking public sector contracts, only well promoted and
statutory guidance will achieve the commendable aim of the Scottish Government
for the Scottish public sector to be a champion of the Scottish Living Wage.

Thursday, January 22, 2015

On reading an interesting blog
called ‘Niko’s Bar’ I discovered the following story and investigated it. Fergus Ewing the
dismal snp MSP and Scottish Energy Minister and, more significantly, member of
the snp’s own Royal Family The Ewings has apparently and belatedly discovered
that the price of oil “now involves the most serious job situation Scotland has
faced in living memory” (Fergus Ewing).

Former
labour MP Brian Wilson writes “Can this be the same Fergus Ewing with whom I
took part in an energy debate in Aberdeen before the referendum when he
insisted that planning Scotland’s economic future on the basis of oil at $113
was not only prudent but – as the White Paper said – “cautious”?. It would
appear that Prince Andrew is not the only over promoted Royal beneficiary of
blatant nepotism. Queen Winnie Ewing, King Stewart, Prince Fergus, Princess Margaret
and Princess Annabelle have all at one time or another been employed and paid
for by the public as snp representatives. Not only representatives but cabinet
positions must be found for them as well if Queen Winnie demands it.

When
considering Fergus Ewing’s damascene conversion to the truth about oil as
acknowledged by the rest of the world Mr. Wilson recalls a public meeting where
he and Fergus Ewing argued about oil in of all places, Aberdeen and writes “I
looked back in the light of Mr Ewing’s apocalyptic change of tune to the
immediate aftermath of that encounter”. “As you might expect in Aberdeen,” I
wrote, “it was a knowledgeable audience and an authoritative voice from the
floor told him that the entire oil industry is working on a forward curve of
$90 a barrel. ‘Your numbers are not taken seriously. Your numbers are simply
wrong.’ Nobody demurred.”

Only
one conclusion can be drawn from this snp oil fiasco, either they are guilty of
telling a big big lie as Hitler famously advised or they are grossly
incompetent and unfit for office. The whole of Scotland dodged a bullet when it
voted NO, remember that when these people ask you to vote for them again.

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

The forces of
darkness are out in their hate filled numbers condemning Muslims, all Muslims,
because of the atrocity in Paris, their position as is often the case is
completely untenable. The backgrounds of the perpetrators are depressingly analogous, they are
immigrants or children of immigrants who occupy the lowest rungs of society and
are stigmatised. The children of immigrants have a tendency not to accept the suffering
that their parents did, this is because they are not in fact immigrants but
still treated as if they are, this causes resentment and becomes a breeding
ground for fanaticism and it is not of course peculiar to France. It cannot be
emphasised enough that the overwhelming majority of immigrants and their families
of all kinds including Muslims are hard working decent law abiding citizens;
this description is being challenged by the usual twisted suspects like UKIP,
The National Front, The English Defence league, The Scottish Defence League and
others including the undisputed king of squalor and hatred himself Rupert
Murdoch. Never ones to miss an opportunity to widen their sinister power our
own nest of spooks in MI5 and MI6 are demanding more power to spy on everyone,
people should consider carefully that the perpetrators of the Paris attacks
were already known to French anti terrorist organisations who were unable to
stop them, more spies monitoring all of us clearly is not the answer.

One of the
most worrying aspects of this situation is the apparent increase in danger for
the Jewish people, angry zealots are not known for being rational and the
threat to Jewish people stems from the treatment of the Palestinians most of
them Muslims by the State of Israel. It is vitally important to emphasise that Israel
and the Jewish people are not the same thing and that Israel does not speak for
Jews across the world, many Jews are in fact as opposed the actions of the
State of Israel as I and many others are. Not enough is being done to publicise
the fact that Jews are not responsible for the problems of Palestinian Muslims
Israel is. Action by world leaders against Israel would go a long way to ease
tensions with Muslims worldwide.

There are
very few dangerous and brutal events in the world today which cannot be made
worse by the arrival of Benjamin Netanyahu the Israeli Prime Minister, and Paris
proved no exception. The orchestrator of the slaughter of 1,400 Muslim men
women and children in the last recent atrocity by Israel called ‘cast lead’
appeared at the French funerals as if his hands were clean, and Israeli
representatives used the situation to blame Palestinians thus demonstrating
wretched opportunism. Meanwhile Jewish people in various parts of the world are
living in fear; this is a scandal which has to be tackled as a matter of
urgency.

We would do
well to consider that ‘free speech’ does not exist in any country that we know
of, all countries can find a reason for locking people up for incitement of one
kind or another, some do so more than others. There is only one way to
eradicate such incidents and that is to rid societies of the circumstances
where such hatred and fanaticism breed. The atrocities committed in Ireland by
Christians against Christians and the slaughter of all those young people by
that clean cut intelligent Norwegian
Christian fanatic do not mean that all Christians are like that, nor are all
Muslims like the killers in Paris.

Not so long
ago a satirical piece appeared in a magazine here in the UK, the target of the
satire was Scotland, it called Scotland ‘Skintland’ along with other similar
jokes, I thought it was clever and funny. The first minister alex salmond
however found it worthy of becoming Incandescent with rage and he stated that “they
(the magazine) would rue the day that they insulted Scotland”. He was of course
posturing as usual but, did he stop to wonder who was listening to him and what
some people might have thought he meant?.

Here is The
Guardian cartoonist Joe Sacco from Sat. 10 January “what makes Muslims unable
to laugh off a mere image. If we decide it’s because there is something deeply
wrong with the killers – then we must drive them from their homes and into the
sea...for that is going to be far easier than sorting out how we fit in each
other’s worlds”. Is that really what we want?.

Monday, December 29, 2014

“I was asked
whether as part of a Westminster deal with another party, I would agree to vote
for the bedroom tax if instructed by the party. I replied ‘No’. End of SNP political career”.

Craig Murray –
Rejected SNP Candidate.

There are a whole host of questions that a candidate can be
asked to test their willingness to support party discipline, e.g. would you
support hanging, would you support a ban on immigration, would you support
forced labour for unemployed people, would you support the burning of books
which were left wing, would you support the building of a 500 foot statue of
Alex Salmond on the highest rampart of Edinburgh Castle, all questions which
are pertinent to the snp most of whose members would be at best ambivalent about their answers and at worst enthusiastic ‘yessers’ which
of course makes them the party we have known and grown to loathe, but they
chose “would you support the bedroom tax”.

Are the snp policy
makers so completely thick-headed as to make themselves hostages to fortune by
suggesting that a failure to support the bedroom tax would constitute a reason
for rejecting someone as a candidate?, my answer to that is, no they are not.
IMO therefore there is no way of denying that this has been asked to pave the
way for just such a proposition. What they are saying is they will do and say
anything to gain power, as I have said often before when you are a single issue
politician you can excuse anything by saying ‘we did it for the great cause’ no
matter what injustice you have perpetrated. It is becoming harder for the snp
to avoid people seeing what they are really like, perhaps all those additional
members will prove difficult to control when they start to realise exactly what
they have signed up to. Things are beginning to look really interesting.

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I represent Ward 4 Paisley North West. I'm a Socialist who believes in equality, peace and the redistribution of wealth, I opposeRacism, Sexism, Sectarianism, Nationalism and any kind of discrimination. Best wishes for a Socialist future.What appears on this website are my personal views and opinions. Not those of the Labour Party, Renfrewshire Council or anyone else, mine only.

Readers will note the contradiction of having Amazon books here and the more ethical Housman's books above. I have decided to keep it here and continue to pass the renumeration from them to a good Socialist cause.